hmm, i guess a bikini pant for an ofuro/onsen is not an option, right?
i mean, you could take it off when pre-washing and then again inside the tub if you're too embarassed to walk around with others seeing your goods...

sushi4ever wrote:
hmm, i guess a bikini pant for an ofuro/onsen is not an option, right?
i mean, you could take it off when pre-washing and then again inside the tub if you're too embarassed to walk around with others seeing your goods...

sushi4ever wrote:
hmm, i guess a bikini pant for an ofuro/onsen is not an option, right?
i mean, you could take it off when pre-washing and then again inside the tub if you're too embarassed to walk around with others seeing your goods...

...or not?

would be interesting to know for japan-trips to come.

Uhhhh.....come again?

huh? O.o

and this was just a random thought popping up in my mind after reading this thread.

If you're bashful, hold your hand towel over your privates as you enter the bathing area (but don't let it touch the water in the bath). But more to the point, no one is looking at you. No one really wants to see what you got, so get over yourself. In fact, it's polite to cover yourself if you have to pass in front of someone, because they don't want it in their face.

Yes, this applies to gaijin, too. Maybe back in the old days there would have been lots of staring and whatnot (I wasn't there, so I can't say), but it's the 21st century now, and chances are pretty slim that you'll be the first foreigner the patrons have ever seen at a sento or onsen. Hell, even the kids don't stare, in my experience.

it's not so much a show and tell but rather a way to relax where everyone is relatively equal or as equal all people can get when they have absolutely nothing on.

Hence the Japanese term 裸の付き合い

I know what the characters mean, but when does one use this term?
is it used to explain when everyone is able to "bare" it all? And I don't mean in a Nude way, but in a way similar to bareing your soul or being on equal footing.

It doesn't really have much with baring your soul (that happens in yukata after many beers and/or bottles of sake), nor with really being on equal footing, since the term applies to equals and friends as well. Though both of those can occur through 裸の付き合い.

A Japanese person may be able to explain it better, but it's essentially a deepening of the relationship, whatever that particular relationship might be. It's a reaffirmation of trust and interdependence. No 建前. The very basic you with the very basic other person. A bonding moment, if you will. At least, that's what I've gotten out of it.

Who said shower nude before going in the pool? You are supposed to step in the shower and rinse completely off before getting in the pool. And I have seen people strip off their bathing suits for the pre-pool shower. But if you haven't at least been walking under the shower and getting wet before getting in the pool, you have been getting it wrong all these years.

Heh, when I went through boot camp, not only did we have to do the normal pre-shower, but we had to straddle down this 10 foot or so long rail that shot streams of warm water up between our legs. I couldn't help but wish that they had them at the public pools I grew up using. Anyone wanting to use the pool should have to walk a gauntlet of spraying water and straddle the bar before getting in.

Yes, this applies to gaijin, too. Maybe back in the old days there would have been lots of staring and whatnot (I wasn't there, so I can't say), but it's the 21st century now, and chances are pretty slim that you'll be the first foreigner the patrons have ever seen at a sento or onsen. Hell, even the kids don't stare, in my experience.

Sorry, pal, but they do stare, sometimes, and not only kids.

But it's truly the only place where washing is a social event, even with the people you usually live with... and with who you usually don't even think you could enter the bathroom when they use it.

lol, i'm all for new cultures and stuff, but it's going to take alot of courage to get me into a public bath. When i eventually go to Japan i might give it some serious thought... just to scare people, can you imagine... a british man in a public pool (and im really pale, i'll look like a ghost, perhaps i could blend into the white tiles if they have any). Anyway like anyone else, i don't want anyone seeing my ding dong (and i don't mean door bell ). Maybe i could take a rubber ducky to keep me company, or some toy battleships to look manly? God i got a feeling if i actually tried this public bath thing i would end up on public news aswell...

Heh, when I went through boot camp, not only did we have to do the normal pre-shower, but we had to straddle down this 10 foot or so long rail that shot streams of warm water up between our legs. I couldn't help but wish that they had them at the public pools I grew up using. Anyone wanting to use the pool should have to walk a gauntlet of spraying water and straddle the bar before getting in.